


The Nest of Phantoms

by PinkPerfume



Category: TERA (Video Game)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25742989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPerfume/pseuds/PinkPerfume
Summary: Originally written for a guild backstory contest, this is the origin story of the guild of TERA heroes called the Nest of Phantoms. Hailing from all over Arun and Shara, these heroes first met and forged their bonds on the Argon warfront in a mission doomed to send them all to their deaths. And send them to their deaths it did indeed... however...





	The Nest of Phantoms

Most know the stories of the brave heroes during the Argon War - the triumphs of the Elleons, the Jelenas, and the inspiring tragedies of the Hasminas. The golden Federation names that forever made their mark on the history of Arborea, which shall be proudly proclaimed by the voices of children playing pretend for years to come. Much fewer know the stories of heroes who’s tales were never told, the silent sacrifices in the dark with clenched teeth, a bitter taste, and a reluctant peace. The tokens and tags that reached family and lovers years after the end. And then there are the stories of heroes only Father Arun and Mother Shara will know. This is one such story.

The village of Kanstria had often been said by the locals to more closely resemble a fortress than a village, nestled in a circle of the black spiky mountains of northeastern Shara, the only ground entrance a small round opening further opened up by the colonists and supported by thick rectangular pillars, half hidden by the foliage that dangled and draped across the rough rock. Despite being a stone’s throw from the Argon war front in Khanovar, the village remained untouched by the Argons thanks to their defensible position and the forces of the Valsekyr Hunt. Their leader, Keinbara led the group with a proud and efficient hand, a master of the hunt. So far although they had experienced casualties, they remained successful in their hunt of the argons, using their superior intelligence and strategies against the argons brute force, skillfully taking them down in fast small groups able to flank and separate the mindless monsters.

However, as the war went on, the argons continued to develop new more powerful and frightening technology, including their sinister use of the iteris shards and the cyasma cylinders that were a macabre mix of blood and food. The hunt was managing fine until Keinbara received a report from a group of banged up scouts about a strange teleportation device they saw some red argons using that allowed them to tap into the iteris shard teleportation network. They’d followed these argons as far into Argonea as they dared but had to abandon pursuit when they’d come upon the Agnurok Engine, the area too full of dangerous cyanowitches and the huge arzakaar thassalirs, too much for any one small group to take on. 

This put the village into immediate danger. Knowing Argons could flood through the middle of the town at any moment, and all those who might know how to dismantle the iteris teleportals out setting up new ones across Argonea, clueless of the situation. With the Argon’s controlling the air, any attempt to send word to the Federation for reinforcements was not only likely to be immediately shot down, but would also never reach them in time. The Valsekyr Hunt was much too small a force to hold off a potential invasion. As far as Keinbara was concerned, they had no choice but to find some way to evacuate… unless they were able to destroy that device somehow. An impossible mission, likely to die before ever getting close to their goal.

A small team of hunters was all he had to spare however. He had no choice but to let the town know. Some of them that could fight bravely volunteered to go with the team, along with a few visitors from outside of town that had been visiting Kanstria when they got blockaded, including a few Kaia’s Swords, a handful of Federation Soldier privates, a few Amani warriors from Kaiator, and some sell-swords and independent mercenaries that found themself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even with this combined force however, they totaled only 30 people. Thirty, against the swarm of Argons outside the village barricades. It was more than a long shot. He watched them go with a heavy heart and a bitter taste in his mouth - he was a hunter, and all this felt like was sending them out to be certain prey.

The group, led by the scouts, followed the trail of the argons, skirting as best they could around the Agnurok Engine, keeping to the mountains when they could, breaking up into groups of five to remain hidden when they encountered groups of too many argons to sneak past, regrouping further ahead, always a few people short than they were before. By the time they reached the caves the scouts had last seen the Argon’s with the device, their numbers had been cut in half and then some. There was not a single one without wounds. But still they pressed on, determined to save the village, determined to strike back against the Argons that had ruined their lives and forced them to live in constant fear. However, the caves around them glowed with a mysterious light, that seemed to give them strength, and as they wearily surveyed their surroundings, they realized that the grass there was green, the foliage lush and healthy without a trace of the sickly blue and red they’d become accustomed to. 

The device was well guarded and they were hopelessly outnumbered but the confines of the caves gave them a chance. The battle was grueling and bloody, the rag-tag band already battle-worn.

At the end of it all, bodies littered the cave. The ones of the argons quickly disintegrated into a sparkling blue dust that floated up into the air and dissipated. The remnants of the team lay fallen next to the destroyed device, having miraculously accomplished their impossible mission, but not a single one was without mortal wounds. As they lay, those who could still see gazed up at the ceiling of the cave, and found comfort in the healthy green leaves of the trees that grew there, the sight giving them hope for a future without the argon threat. It was with the peace of that hope that the last of them closed their eyes and drew their last breath and succumbed to the darkness.

It was with great surprise that those souls opened their eyes again to discover themselves in the infirmary back in Kanstria. When asked, they were told that after having destroyed the device, a group of hunters coming back from a mission had heard the noise of battle and came to investigate the cause and come across the remnants of the team and carried them back to the village, and that when they had found them although unconscious and weak, not a single one bore a fatal open wound. 

It was a mystery. It was a miracle. Despite the many times they searched those caves after their recovery, they could find nothing to give them a clue as to their survival. And all of them were sure they had sustained fatal wounds. It was as if they had returned from the dead…

They gradually gave up, the only lead they’d ever gotten the words of a Baraka botanist researcher, claiming the caves were blessed by Yurian… which only led to a dead end, nobody having heard of any deity or figure with that name. 

They found themselves reluctant to part after their unsuccessful search, unable to forget their time together, fighting to the death side by side. They decided to stay together and use the gift of their miracle to fight, so that others could experience the hope they had. They delegated a leader and called themselves the Phantoms after their miraculous return from death, though eventually was affectionately nicknamed the “Nest” of Phantoms as they grew closer than friends and became a strange but sure family. 

**Author's Note:**

> NOP may be no more but the core of us still stick together to this day. :)


End file.
